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Archive for October, 2010

While Open Source software can often start out as free, it can incur costs later on in terms of hiring developers to build and implement applications. However, it offers opportunities for creative development and customization that are sometimes not available in an out-of-the-box CAD program.

Open CASCADE Technology has been around since 1990, and is a software development platform freely available in open source. It includes components for 3D surface and solid modeling, visualization, data exchange and rapid application development.

QCAD is an application for 2D drafting, for creating technical drawings such as building plans and interiors. The source code of the QCAD community released under the GPL Open Source. QCAD works on Windows, Mac OS X and many Linux and Unix Systems.The current version of QCAD is 2.2. QCAD 3 is scheduled for release Q1 of 2011.

CademiaCADEMIA can used both by experts and occasional users. It is written in Java and runs on platforms such as Windows, Mac, Linux. CADEMIA is an Open Source product of free software licensed under the GPL. “Applications of arbitrary complexity can be efficiently implemented as Plug-Ins in Java.”

BRL-CAD is solid modeling system developed by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (formerly known as the Ballistic Research Laboratory, or BRL) that includes an interactive geometry editor (MGED), a ray-tracing library with support for rendering and geometric analysis, network distributed framebuffer support, an embedded scripting language, image- and signal-processing tools, and a host of additional utilities.

“Data is the blood that runs through cross rail veins,” said Be Inspired Conference guest keynote speaker, Malcom Taylor, P.E., and head of technical support services, Crossrail. “It is at the heart of what we’re doing in crossrail.”

Crossrail was also the winner of the Be Inspired Award in the category “Connecting Project Teams,” winning over two other Crossrail fnalists.

CEO Greg Bentley held a press briefing on October 20 at the Be Inspired event in Amsterdam, where he made several announcements: one being the launch of the Bentley Infrastructure 500 – modeled after Fortune 500 – which would identify Bentley customers who are especially successful. Bentley said their business represents $13 trillion in revenue.

This determination is made based on reported net tangible fixed assets – the balance sheet view of the infrastructure. “

These are some of the facts about the companies:

– 92 of top 100 are Bentley Subscribers

– 61 of the top 100 have adopted ProjectWise

– 40 of the top 100 have adopted Navigator

Most top candidates are private companies, coming from geographically diverse locations – all over the world.

The economy is a player in this situation – during a year like this one, the exchange rate is volatile. Many public entities are valued based on cost and others may be valued for what they could sell for. Because of the economy, many infrastructure companies have been working off backlog and have been resourceful in this way. Bentley said this may coincide with employment statistics.

He went on to say that “flat” pretty much describes Bentley’s financial growth right now.

Revenues went down almost 10% in 2009. In 2010 to date, revenues have been reported to be “within sight of 2008 revenues. By the end of the year Bentley predicts their run rate will be back to what it was before 2009. “Maybe our organic growth is the new growth,” he said.

New Bentley products coming up:

– The V8i portfolio extends through various disciplines and operations.

As projects are becoming more complex with more global distribution, customers are asking for a data management system that provides AEC project teams with an accurate view of their project wherever they are, with access to information across the project lifecycle. They want a collaboration solution that will focus on the project, not the data, that will also offer viral team communication to include social networking and ad hoc collaboration.

According to Rick Rundell, senior director AEC Strategic Technology, Autodesk’s BIM 360 is the answer to those customer requirements. As part of the entire AEC collaboration data solution, BIM 360 joins Vault and Buzzsaw. Autodesk Vault is
at the heart of BIM 360.

Utilizing Autodesk Cloud, Autodesk BIM 360 delivers collaboration and data management across the project, across AEC teams and across the enterprise. It can be used with people outside your firewall as well as those within it.

By delivering the right information to the right people at the right time, AEC teams can formulate better decisions and minimize mistakes and rework. The opportunity to engage stakeholders in the design process by providing more accurate information and analysis is a win-win and can only result in better outcomes throughout the project lifecycle.

This morning in Amsterdam, the weather alternated between sun, clouds and rain. At the Hotel Okura, COOMalcom Walter welcomed attendees to Bentley’s Be Inspired Conference, an event that recognizes outstanding infrastructure projects around the world. Attendees came from all over the world to see presentations by competition finalists.

Walter showed a video of the first miner in the Chilean mine disaster as he was brought to the surface to emphasize the human side to infrastructure.

The Netherlands is known for its infrastructure – the very existence of the country has depended on windmills and dykes that keep land and sea separate. Walter said that without infrastructure to pump water and keep it in bay, everything would be under water.

This year there will be video recordings of the finalists’ presentations available on the Bentley website.

CEO Greg Bentley talked about resilience and helping the world be more resilient. “We define infrastructure as the way we improve our planet,” he said.

He showed some slides that highlighted the use of Bentley products through out the recession. Bentley pointed out that after the recession hit, there have been more people in front of MicroStation, and although that might be good in some ways, it also means that people are working more hours now.

Other facts:

1)New countries are now reporting usage that weren’t before this year.

2) Bentley has seen growth in Europe’s MicroStation utilization hours.

3) Asia has never had a recession.

4) Infrastructure and plant have had a hard time sustaining growth, geospatial and civil has had some growth.

5) Bentley has achieved some growth in 2010.

6) Projectwise passport adoption has grown greatly in 2010 and is used by the majority of top Design 100 firms.

7) Bentley is ranked #2 in the geospatial market according to Daratech.

8) Bentley is ranked #1 in plant & process market according to Daratech.